Reading
SAA Notes
Life is a mixture of blessing and cursing, of compassion to the destitute and of assassination. While things go right for the Shunammite widow and her son, they go very wrong in Syria, Israel and Judah. The wickedness of the kings of Israel and of Judah did not stop God’s purpose in fulfilling His promise to David of an eternal throne/Kingdom ruled by David’s heir. 2 Samuel 7:12-16.
SJA Notes
* Father God in Heaven, when we tell You of our ways, You answer us; Teach us Your statutes!
“But the next day he took the bed cloth and dipped it in water and spread it over his face, till he died.”
False religion and rejection of God’s commands can lead us to do terrible things.
Look at how Hazael protested his upright character in the face of prophetic truth-telling (of his future evil deeds).
God knew the truth of the matter, knew the truth of his heart.
Hazael could have taken the opportunity to repent of wickedness.
Yet given opportunity to further his own desires, the veneer of morality fell away.
Jeremiah tells us the hard truth, for all of us,
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick;”
This is not just true for Hazael, for Ahab, for the kings who did evil, for the unrepentant villians.
This is a truth for EVERYONE.
How good it is then that we have a Great Physician who can heal our hearts, make them new, deal with our sin, give us new hearts that are after God’s own.
* Father God,
Thank You for giving us new hearts, for saving us from darkness into light, for bringing us new birth in Christ.
Please help us to do what You tell us to, because we love You.
Please help us to act justly, love mercy, and to walk humbly with You.
Amen.